Only a limited number of services and applications can be realistically included in a DR test plan. Consider your customer's criticality of services, exposure to loss, risk tolerance, and threats and vulnerabilities assessments to determine what needs to be included. This will also help you prioritize which services must be restored and in what timeframe, based on recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs).
Don't neglect low-priority services that high-priority apps depend on in a DR test. With IT services and infrastructure tightly intertwined, it's pertinent to consider and exercise all aspects that impact the recovery of mission-critical services, including the following areas:
- The network
- Data/storage
- Applications
- The data center
- Communication systems
For detailed DR planning considerations, read the full feature from Storage magazine: Disaster recovery: Test, test and test some more.
